


Riding The Line

by achuber0814



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Blood and Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fake AH Crew AU, Fluff and Humor, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 08:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16658062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achuber0814/pseuds/achuber0814
Summary: Cass has spent the majority of her life doing some very illegal things. She's months into preperations for her next heist, only for an unknown crew to sweep in and steal the money first. That doesn't fly with Cass, so now she's out for revenge against four of the best criminals in Los Santos, lead by a mildly psychotic man that she kind of finds attractive. How's she going to fare? Probably not well. Does she care? Not at all.





	1. Upstaged

I was so unbelievably angry. No, angry didn't even begin to cover it. I was furious, seething with rage.

Months of careful planning, surveillance, and strategy down the drain in mere moments. Memories danced through my mind. I scrolled through them, looking for any possible moment that could've clued me in. How could this have happened on my watch? I'm used to my plans going awry, but this? This was different.

I stared at my computer screen with glazed over eyes, the words of my plan fading into the background. I did surveillance for weeks, how could someone plan something like this at the same time I did? What are the odds of that?

It occurred to me that I was clutching my mouse so tightly that at any moment I could expect it to explode into shards of hard plastic attached over the desk. I take a deep breath and let go. I turned towards the radio against the back wall of my tiny office that gave me the devastating news.

I waited to hear just two words to give me comfort, but they never came. Instead what I heard was 'officer down' and requests for back up over and over. My heart was sinking, and it was seconds away from hitting the bottom of my chest cavity when I heard what I never wanted to hear.

"Suspects have evaded capture."

I picked up the police radio and threw it at the opposite wall, staring blankly as it broke into several pieces. How dare these people just waltz into that bank and walk out with MY money. I slammed my hand down on my desk, the cheap wooden object shaking under my fist. I could've bought a new one with that money.

"They're not going to get away with this," I whispered to myself as I sunk further into my chair.

"I'm going to get that money if it's the last thing I do."

\-- --

The bar was gross, loud, and way too crowded, but the guys didn't care at all. They were all far too high on success for their surroundings. The four of them had been at the bar for a few hours now celebrating the biggest heist they'd ever pulled off and now was the best part: getting wasted.

Gavin, Micheal, and Jeremy were all downing shots left and right, with Ryan, who would have to drive them home, drinking diet Coke. Ryan didn't mind being a DD. He'd gotten used to it over the years. It's not like he didn't like drinking, because that could be fun too. But most of the time it was more beneficial for one of them to be sober. He watched as the three men laughed and cheered, occasionally leaning too far over and nearly fell off the rickety barstools.

It had been a wild ride, and all of them deserved a night like this, and even though Ryan wasn't drinking, it was still definitely a break from the activities of the past few weeks. Ryan recalled how nervous the four of them were before this heist, especially Jeremy who has a particular knack for working himself up before jobs. His eyes drifted across the bar, seeing all the people who were likely quite a bit younger than him. Even his own team members trailed behind him by several years, not that it had ever bothered him. It was just strange sitting in a place like this surrounded by so many people so different than him.

As his eyes scanned the room looking for nothing in particular, Ryan caught a glimpse of his reflection in a mirror behind the bar. He saw the dark rings that remained around his eyes, and he rubbed them for a moment before giving up, remembering how much effort it actually took to get that stuff off. He wished he could find something that stained a little less, but if that was the case it'd be too difficult for it to stick under the mask. Even if it didn't go away, Ryan imagined it fit the image better that way.

"Need a refill?"

Ryan looked away from the mirror to the bartender in front of him. She rested her forearms on the wooden surface, leaning way too far forward for Ryan's liking. She wore an unsettling grin on her face, like it was holding back too much excitement back for it to handle, and it twitched a little as she tried to hold it in place.

"No, I'm alright," Ryan said gingerly as he scooted back a little, trying to distance himself. "I have to-"

Ryan was interrupted by a loud thump to his left, similar to the sound of someone the size of Gavin falling off of their barstool, because that's exactly what it was. It was followed by Micheals loud laughter echoing throughout the bar, interspersed with Gavin's moans of pain mixed with his own maniacal giggling. Ryan sighed and turned back to the bartender, whose smile had unsurprisingly disappeared by that point. She didn't even need to say what she was thinking, Ryan could plainly read it in her face. It was time for them to go.

The four of them all piled into Ryan's car with only a mild difficulty, heading back to Ryan's apartment. He didn't always appreciate them getting drunk and crashing at his place when they couldn't drive themselves back to their respective homes, but they were his friends and he was considerate enough to make sure they were safe. After all, they all had his back during the day, so why should he not have their backs when they wanted to get drunk? It's not as if Ryan was missing out on something by babysitting the three of them, he much preferred to sip on diet Coke than do shots any day.

After helping Gavin and Jeremy, the drunker of the three, up into the elevator and out again, Ryan abandoned the trio in the living room to fend for themselves. It had been a very tiring day, and Ryan thought if there was any time that he deserved a relaxing shower, it was now. He paused in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection for a moment. It was a sobering reality for one, even if they weren't intoxicated, to stare at themselves and consider what exactly led up to that moment. Ryan couldn't believe they'd successfully pulled off the heist today, and now he wasn't exactly sure what to do next. There would be another one, surely, but what after that? Ryan just smiled to himself as he walked away from the mirror. Whatever was going to come his way, he knew that he and his crew could handle it.

\-- --

Here I was in my living room, a name that is totally not fitting. Looking around, it feels like the person living here died months ago. It's barren and cold, just like every other room in the house. No use in making yourself comfortable when it's only a matter of time before you have to leave it all behind.

I'd sat in the office for a long time, weighing my options. I knew I had to find these people, but there were several different ways of doing that. My best option, though, was definitely Diego. Mostly because he was actually at the fucking bank, not to mention my best inside guy.

I paced back and forth, typing out a short text that felt like it took an eternity to get out. I needed answers, and I needed them fast. There's no telling what was going to happen to the money and if I'd ever be able to get my hands on it, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let it slip through my fingers that easily. I'm not going down without a fight.

Meet me @ my place  
11:30 sharp  
Bring friends and you'll regret it

My stomach growled, but there was no time to eat. I had to get across town and get ready. I grabbed my keys off the table next to the door and began to slip of my jacket. As I pulled on one sleeve, I hesitated. What was I getting myself into? Could I really do this? The voices on the radio spoke of multiple suspects, and I'm just one person. But as soon as the uncertainty had appeared, it vanished. I know if anyone can do this, it's me.

I've been doing this for years; robbing banks, breaking into weapon's facilities, taking what I could when I could. I started small, convenience stores no one would pay much attention to as long as I didn't shoot anyone. It got easier, and next thing I knew I was hitting banks in small towns. Here I was nearly twelve years later in Los Santos, my home for over four years now.

I didn't usually stay in one place so long. It makes it too hard to leave when the time comes.

I came here to meet Diego for the first time after being in contact for a job. We clicked and after that I preferred to work with him over anyone else. Diego is..... a piece of work, but he's got some pretty handy skills. He started out younger than I did; knew how to code before he was out of elementary school. By the time I met him he was still on smaller crimes: hacking into stolen phones, breaching fire walls, fairly simple stuff for his skill level.

Then I entered the picture.

I needed someone to hack into the security feed of some rich asshole's house and replace it with looped footage so I could get in and out without the police swarming me, all so I could steal a necklace I really liked. That didn't go over well with Diego, but he thought I was so fucking nuts he might as well help me, and the rest is history.

This heist would've been his first real hands-on job with me, and I was pretty psyched about it. He got a job at the bank nearly five months ago, long enough for him to not be the most recent hire when I broke in.

And now all that effort was wasted.

Which is exactly why I had to get even.

I slipped on my old tennis shoes and grabbed my keys off my table. As I headed out the door, I turned and looked back at my living room.

I definetly need a new couch.


	2. Playing Detective

I find myself pacing across the living room once again with the difference being I was doing it in another house. He should be here any minute now, and I'm not in the mood to wait. 

And as off on cue, the doorbell rang. I looked through the window to confirm he was alone, and then I unlocked the door and let him. I let him walk a couple of feet before I spun him around and grabbed him by the collar to lift the small man to my level. He was shaking before he even walked through the door and now it was magnified. 

"What. Happened." I gritted through my teeth. 

He shrunk away from me, waving his hands in the air. 

"I swear Cass, I have no idea. There was so much commotion I thought it might be you, but I knew as soon as I heard gunshots it wasn't." 

"You have to know something. Nothing ever catches you off guard, surely you heard something," I pleaded. He knew as well as I did the threat of violence against him was a facade. That didn't stop me from terrifying him, though.

"Alright you got me. I heard something along the grapevine that something was in the works, but I thought they meant you. I had no idea someone else was planning to do it first."

I hesitated. If Diego was telling the truth, then I was in big trouble. There's no way a group completely off the map did this. 

"Diego, what exactly happened?" I whispered. 

"Oh boy, okay so I was just in the back on one of the computers, and all of a sudden there's screaming in the lobby. Then there were gunshots and everyone dropped to the floor. Next thing I know, they're gone and so is the money," he says quickly, running out of breath he looks nervous, as if there is more, but I dont know if I should bother trying to get it out of him 

"I'm telling you Cass I don't know who did it, but if you want me to get looking I can. Even better, I can probably get you in touch with people who can find them faster." The second the words left his mouth, my eyes lit up. 

"That would be amazing! I need to get after them as fast as possible." He backed away slowly, like he was afraid of what I was considering. "Do you know any names? Any clues, descriptions, anything?"

"Alright, I think there were four of them. They might've gone by initials or something, I heard them yelling letters or something. I don't remember which letters though? Maybe a G and a T or something? I was under pressure. I never saw them though." 

"Diego, say no more. Just get me in touch with your contacts and we'll be good to go."

\-- --

Today was Lester's lucky day. His wealth had just significantly increased thanks to his new heist crew, and now some girl wanted to pay him to feed her information about his own heist crew! Normally, he would never take such a risk against his own team, but she had indicated that she works alone, and if it all went wrong, what's stopping him from finding another crew? 

The phone call with her made him positively giddy, and that was a rare occurrence. Lester had a good feeling about this. He had already told her that he was pretty sure he'd heard something about the crew, and that he could find out even more. Now came the next decision, whether he should warn his crew or not. He almost wanted to stir up a bit of trouble and tell them that someone was looking for them, but he kind of wanted to see what the girl was capable of on her own. Maybe one day she could come in handy. Now all that was left was to plan the next heist. 

He had a few ideas, but he wasn't sure what he wanted the guys to do next. Mostly, he didn't want to interfere with this new scheme, but he also wanted them to do something good so they wouldn't bitch about it again. 

He needed something that would get them out and about a lot, so it had to have multiple facets. But he also needed those pieces to be far enough away so they'd be gone for a long enough time.

He had the perfect thing in mind. 

\-- --

Surveillance is the absolute worst part of my job. There is nothing that kills me like sitting in a vehicle for hours on end doing nothing but watching for details. I'm not good with details, but in my line of work you had to be or you wind up dead. 

It feels like hours since I parked across the street from the bank to investigate the crime scene. There was still crime scene tape wrapped around the building, blocking anyone from entrance as police carried out their investigation. Dark splotches of blood painted the sidewalk, staining the places where bodies had laid. The bank sat on a street corner with a parking lot that started in front and wrapped around to the side. It was likely that they left from side and ran down the alley to avoid the cops. But how could they have gotten through the security system? They had to have someone hacking for them, just like I had Diego. If I could figure out how they hacked into the system, maybe I could trace their signature back to them. 

~ring~

I picked up my phone, and though the number wasnt saved, I knew that this was the call I'd been waiting for. 

"Cass! I've got some intel for you!" I heard him shout on the other end.

"Perfect, Lester."

"Alright, you were right. There are four of them, though they could be working with others. I got initials too: G, J, M, and the best bet for leader, R."

"Awesome! That's a great start," I assured. 

"You think that's good? I've got a bunch of possible addresses too. I'll send them all to you, but there's one in particular I want you to check out." I could almost hear him smiling. He sure was proud of himself for that one. 

"Will do. Let me know if you find anything else." I hung up and waited for the list to come in. 

As I scanned the bank one last time, I saw an abandoned jacket on the ground across the street. It was dark blue with a white stripe on it. My mouth twitched a little, like I was trying to smile but I knew I couldn't. My brother used to have one like that. 

It wasn't so painful anymore, not seeing him. Besides, it was hard to be upset when it was my decision. He's better off without me anyways. 

\-- --

Ryan woke up surprisingly late compared to his usual routine, but he probably would've stayed asleep longer if it wasn't for the sound of glass shattering. He raced downstairs to make sure someone hadn't broken a window or a table, and when he arrived, he saw the three men staring down at the ground. Gavin's hand was still outstretched like he was still holding the cup, which was now on pieces on the floor. Gavin stared incredulously, and Ryan guessed that he was so hungover he didn't even really register that the glass had slipped from his hand. The four of them soon cleaned up the mess and got Gavin some more water, but not before Ryan warned him that if he broke another glass he'd throw him through the window. 

"So," Micheal whispered, "what's the next plan?"

Jeremy groaned from the other side of the couch. "Can't you wait like, a day before we start planning something new? My heart can't take this."

Ryan nodded. "We can afford to wait until tomorrow to start thinking of something new. Lester hasn't even gotten back to me about future heists yet anyways." 

The other three agreed. They'd just had a pretty good score, so they could take the time to have a bit of a break. Ryan for one wanted to take the time to think of something new. They'd done a few bank heists and related setups but unless you were hitting some pretty big banks, it got a little monotonous after a few. Maybe next time they could take off with some government vehicles, or facility codes they could sell. Even shipping manifests could be fun. But Ryan wasn't worried about finding something new and exciting to work on, because he had a feeling something was coming. 

Something big.


	3. Dumb Luck

Remember how I said that I hate surveillance? That hasn't changed since the last time we spoke. Here I was, sitting in my car again. This time I was stationed in a parking garage across the street from a large apartment complex, one that Lester said looked very promising. It didn't seem too busy at the moment, but I was monitoring every single person that entered and exited, just to be sure. The complex is a pretty high end place, somewhere you could definitely afford if you robbed banks for a living. 

At this point, I've been here for nearly three hours and I've seen nothing promising. Anyone unusual gets photographed and their pictured sent to Diego to see what they have on record. If anything didn't fit right, he'd sent it back to me. Unfortunately, its been a slow day and everyone we've pulled up is not working. 

It's hard to not get distracted and start daydreaming when you're doing something like this. My mind wants to focus on more important things whenever I sit in one place for hours on end. That defeats the whole purpose of what I'm doing though, so it helps that I've cut out pretty much anything fun from my life. Not that what I do isn't fun, because there's nothing like the thrill of getting into a gunfight, or running from the cops. Normal fun never really worked for me, and now it's just a distraction. You can say thats boring or sad if you like, but that's my life. I love what I do. 

Sometimes I like to think about my family when I do things like this, not because it makes me happy, but it reminds me of how far I've come and why I do what I do. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here, which is a statement you're welcome to take any which way you want to. But thoughts of them leave fairly quickly. I learned a long time ago the less I think about it, the better. 

\-- --

"RYAN! HURRY UP!" Ryan barely flinched at Micheal yelling downstairs because let's be honest, it's a pretty natural occurrence. He had a tendency to get a little loud at every inconvenience, but that was just Micheal. He's from New Jersey, can you blame him? But Ryan wasn't going to listen for the moment. He was currently standing in front of his bathroom mirror yet again, staring at himself. He'd been a bit introspective as of late, and Ryan couldn't think of a better way to figure out why other than more introspection? 

So far, he hadn't figured anything out. Maybe there was nothing to figure out, and he was just getting into his own head, but maybe there was something that was eating at him. It's not that he was unsatisfied with his life, because he couldn't imagine anything better. He knew from a young age that he wasn't like everyone else, and a mundane life with a regular job and a regular family just wouldn't cut it. He needed something exciting, something interesting. A life of crime was something that always intrigued him, kept him entertained. And then when he found the rest of the crew, struggling to make something of themselves, he finally understood why everyone else wanted a family. This was his family. He'd never had anything that he wanted to protect and take care of like his friends. 

"What's taking you so long, huh?" Ryan heard Micheal from down the hall. He wanted to walk out and answer him, but his feet wouldn't budge. He turned to the doorway as Micheal walked up and leaned against it. Micheal opened his mouth to speak, but stared at Ryan instead. His face softened.

"What's up man? You good?" Micheal asked.

Ryan nodded. He felt the need to explain himself, but he didn't. Instead, he just put his hand on Micheal's shoulder for a moment. 

"Let's go," Ryan said after a couple seconds. Micheal nodded slowly, utterly confused about what just happened. Ryan's emotions were not locked away in a safe, but rather sit underneath a think layer of ice. To get to them, you have to break through a cold, solid layer to reach any sort of warmth. Even then, Ryan has outbursts of feelings every once and a while when the ice gets too thin, but it usually came late at night or when he actually drinks, not in the middle of the day. If it were anyone else, Micheal would be fairly concerned, but since it was Ryan, he wasn't exactly sure what to say. 

But enough of that, Ryan didn't like to spend too much time feeling. He headed downstairs to meet the other two guys and micheal followed behind him, unsure of what exactly just happened. The other two were sprawled out on the couch, seemingly unfazed by Ryan taking forever to come downstairs even after he said he was ready. 

"What's the hold up?" Jeremy shouted. Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and headed towards the door. Jeremy just shook his head and followed suit. Ryan acting weird was normal, especially since he didn't really know what was normal. 

"So, what's the plan?" Gavin asked as they entered the elevator. 

"Lester has the details, but I think we're headed to take some armoured cars off the government's hands," Ryan said. Before the words were even out of his mouth Gavin started squealing. They were all fairly excited to get a new vehicle, mostly because they all knew they'd be going on a joyride afterwards. 

The elevator dinged and the four men walked out, slipping on gloves and jackets as they went, not because it was cold but just because it looks badass. They slung open the door to the outside, laughing amongst themselves and hitting each other on the back. They all hop in Ryan's car and head out of the city, ready to get the party started.

\-- --

Just as I was about to look away from the entrance of the building, I see the door swing open and watch as four men dressed in dark colors walk out. One of them is pretty tall, wearing a black leather jacket with blue on the shoulders and down the arms and white stripes around the elbow and wrist areas, not to mention fingerless gloves. There's two slightly shorter men, both around the same height. One has curly hair brown hair and is dressed in a brown leather jacket, while the other has lighter straight brown hair and a dark blue shirt. The last was a man quite a bit shorter than the other three, who wore a black jacket with a horrible purple and orange shirt underneath. I grab my camera and snap as many pictures as I can, and manage to snag photos of a couple of their faces. I'll send them to Deigo when I get home, but right now the best option is to tail them. If anyone seems like a good fit for criminals, it's them.

I pulled out of the parking garage, desperate to keep up with them. Right as I was pulling out I see them whip around the corner. I race after them, dodging cars left and right. If there was ever a time I didn't need to get into a wreck, its now. They're about three cars ahead of me as I swerve into the left lane. They're weaving in and out of traffic seamlessly, and for a moment I wonder if I can really keep up with them. I gas it and try to move into the right lane to get ahead of the car there, but they speed up too. I can't get around them yet. 

We're coming up to the bottom of a hill now, and the light in front of it turned yellow right before their car went through. There was no way I was going to make that. I slammed on the breaks, watching their car dissapear on the horizon. I wait a few minutes for the light to turn green again, but by the time i get over the hill, they're gone. 

I sigh loudly and pull into the next gas station I see. Dialing Diego's number, I try to think of how I'm going to explain this one. 

"What's up?" I hear on the other end.

"I found some people who definetly look like criminals. I tried tailing them but it didn't work well." I could hear him laugh histerically. 

"You? Couldn't keep up? Oh, you just made my day!" He said in between giggles.

"Whatever, I'm sending pictures when I get home. I'll need something fast. I also need schematics for the appartments for that building, and I need to know who owns the largest appartments in there. Upper floors only. The stuff they're doing needs a lot of space."

"Space and rich people, got it. I'll be on the lookout for those pictures."

\-- --

"Hostage situation, really? What does he think we are, huh? Charity workers?" Micheal spit out as they left Lester's home.

"We're gonna get our hands on some nice bikes and shoot a bunch of people. I'm not complaining," Ryan said, three steps ahead of the others.

"Can't argue with that."

The four men climbed into Ryan's car, chattering amongst themselves.

"Oi, how's about we go down to the pier tonight, have a drink?" Gavin chirped from the backseat.

"The pier? Why?"

"Dunno, might be fun. If we get bored we can go down to the beach and raise hell."

The other three murmured to themselves and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, why not," Jeremy said.

Any night Gavin suggested going to the pier, they all knew it was going to get wild. There was something about the beach that made them transform back into seventeen years old with nothing better to do than light fires and throw bottles at the ground.

Only this time, there were a lot more guns involved.

Gavin liked to try and jump over the fire a little too much, and Jeremy fires a pistol in the air when he gets drunk on the beach. Every time they go the end up getting the cops called on them and having a high speed chase back to home.

In other words, pier nights are the absolute best.

Even Ryan liked to drink a little when they went down to the beach. Something about the sand and the waves just makes you want to have alcohol in you.

They pulled up to the pier and practically dove out. Gain started hollering and sprinted for the entrance.

Dusk had started to settle, and the neon lights put out an unsettling yet aura over the wooden dock and onto the water. Faint carnival music drifted over from one end, and the only thing you could smell was an overwhelming sense of something fried.

They wandered throughout the stalls, looking for something to do. Ryan settled on a shooting game, one where you had to hit moving targets. Jeremy stopped to watch while Micheal went ahead looking for Gavin, calling out 'boi' every few minutes.

\-- --

Cass stared out into the open water, contemplating putting her feet in the water. She'd never had an ocean where she grew up, or most of her life for that matter. Now that she lived in Los Santos, she took every opportunity she could to visit the beach. She's never been in the water, but there's a calming presecence about the beach.

Come to think of it, Los Santos has always been calming to Cass. There's something about the hum of traffic, the buzz of the streetlights that always made Cass feel safe. 

It's never been too noisy for her, as any amount of noise is preferred to silence.

Silence has always meant bad to Cass. 

But now the business of the city helped lull her to sleep at night. Tonight was no different; a friday night always meant a busy pier, and quite a few people on the beach building bonfires and such. Cass sat on a blanket she kept in her trunk, watching the people who drifted onto the beach. 

What normal lives they must lead, people like them. Not that Cass really led much of an abnormal life, because a lot of people commit crimes. She's just like every other criminal out there, except for the small fact that she does it for a living. There's a lot of those in the world too, but a lot of people do other things during the day that aren't illegal. 

Cass looked over to the part of the beach closest to the pier. There was currently a group of people standing over a fire they'd built. They were running around it and laughing loudly, throwing stuff at each other. A jump over the fire and scream of "Oh bollocks!" when they got too close. The smoke from their fire drifted through the air and clouded her vision, but she made no effort to move. It's soon change direction anyways.

Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot filled the air. There were screams off in the distance, but neither Cass nor the men seemed fazed. She turned towards them and saw a man standing with one foot up on a log, one hand on his hip, the other holding a gun in the air. The others were doubled over in laughter, holding onto each other to not fall into the fire. 

She narrowed her eyes. What were the chances that these could be the same men? 

She strained her eyes trying to see the men. The fire gave them a ghostly outline, dancing embers shrouding their figures. It was too dark for her to see what they looked like, and she wasn't about to walk over there to find out. She leaned backward and laid down on the towel. 

She couldn't see them, and she couldn't be sure it was them, but she had a feeling.

That was the crew.


	4. Hoodwinked

Cass woke up early the next morning before the sun had even risen. She sat on her old, uncomfortable couch, legs curled up underneath her. She took a small sip from her mug, which currently held black coffee.

She hated it. Black coffee is one of the worst things in the world, she told herself. 

But she drank it anyways.

There's no other way to get the long hours and kind of work she needed to get done during the day without drinking coffee. There's just no way you can stay up all night staring through binoculars and then get up and shoot at people at eight in the morning without it. 

She checked her phone for the third time since she woke up. Cass was waiting on confirmation from Diego to meet him for additional information before trying to carry out her plan. 

She was also waiting for Lester to stop being a miserable grump. 

He'd promised to call her today because he had "something good", but he had yet to follow through with it. 

The morning light was starting to peek through her small windows. She was at her least preferred home, outside of town. It was quiet here, too quiet. But she tried to not stay in the same house for too long. 

This one was small, as are the others, and barren. She spent the least time in this one, and had less stuff strewn about through the house because of it. It didn't look like a home, and it didn't feel like one either. None of them really did, but it didn't matter to her. She liked to spend most of her time outside, doing something rather than being inside. 

Her phone dinged, ripping her from her thoughts. 

I'm ready  
See you in twenty

She smiled. Time to get this shit over with. 

\-- -- 

"You're late."

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, who cares? It was two minutes."

He smirked and shrugged. I knew he really didn't care, but he was gonna give me shit about it anyways. 

"Whatchya got, Diego?"

"Okay, those people? Nothing. Not a damn thing on them. No social media, no drivers licence or passports, nothing. Anywhere where their pictures should be, doesn't exist. If that's not suspicious I don't know what is. 

"You're right. You've got to be sketchy as shit to wipe yourself off the face of the earth."

"Exactly. So I took the pictures and the minimal bank security footage we had before they shot the cameras, and compared them. Essentially, the four of them are the same height and build as the crew that robbed the bank."

"Even better!" 

"There's more. I was looking for someone in that building who looked good and I found a certain James Hayes who owns apartment number 40. I dug around a little, and everything on him is a dead end too. Everyone else in that building checked out. Not only that, but he's requested and been approved for construction multiple times. Expanding rooms, adding stuff, and a permit for putting in a safe and adding drywall around it. Safe to say I think that's our guy."

"Was that pun on purpose?"

"Absolutely."

What an idiot. Still, he did amazing digging all this info up. 

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me? I'd never send you in blind. I have a floor plan for you. I've marked where the construction has been done, which is where the money likely is."

"You're the best, Diego," I said, beaming now. What would I ever do without him?

He stuck his hands behind his back and mumbled something about "doing his job" as he looked at the ground, but I knew he was blushing a little.

He handed the plans to me and I took them, putting my hand on his shoulder as I did. He's fairly short, only an inch or two taller than me, so it's not hard. "Thank you."

As I get into my car, I dial Lester's number. It rings a few times before he picks up.

"What do you want?"

I roll my eyes. I do not have time for him to be an asshole.

"I want the info you said you have, Lester."

"OH! Right, right. That. Yeah, I got something. I got names."

"Names? Are you fucking with me?" 

"Nope. My sources tell me that they're named Ryan, Micheal, Gavin, and Jeremy. They don't know last names, but if I learn something you will too."

"Incredible. So Ryan, that would be the leader?"

"Seems like it."

"Awesome. Is the target still planning to head down 26th?

"Sources say yes. I don't know which one it'll be, but they should have what you need. I'm sure you've got it covered."

I pulled into a spot along 26th street. Looking around, I saw a semi-busy street. Not too crowded, but you definitely needed to watch for people as you walked. Perfect.

"I sure do," I answered, smiling to myself. I hung up and slipped on my jacket. It was extra large on me, meaning it covered most of my hands, as well as going past my butt. Large jackets are always the most comfortable jackets, and it's starting to cool down here, so it works. 

It'd better work. 

\-- --

Ryan doesn't like walking. What's the point when you live somewhere where you can drive to every location? Driving is more fun anyways. What's fun about walking?

He didn't understand why Lester wanted them to walk to the building, just to drive away once they finished the job there. It seemed so pointless.

The sky was awfully grey today, and Ryan hoped it wouldn't rain on him. This jacket had no hood, and it'd really suck to get his hair wet. It had been cloudy a lot lately, seeing as how it was beginning to transition into winter. Winter in Los Santos wasn't exactly cold, but it wasn't great either. They had none of the benefits; no snow, no icy mornings, just cold gross rain. 

Ryan preferred fall. It was a nice transition time, where it was cold enough to wear his favorite jacket, but not so cold he needed another jacket underneath. It got less hot under the mask, and it took longer for him to start sweating off the facepaint. Summer and spring were nice, as he quite liked beach days with the crew, but they felt exactly the same and that feeling is called too damn hot. 

Ryan passed a coffee shop, reminding him with the smell that escaped onto the street that he had forgotten to eat anything this morning, and he was hungry. In fact, if he had enough time, he'd love to stop and-

Suddenly, Ryan felt a hand slam onto his chest and a shoulder hit his. He took step back to brace himself

"Ohmigod, I'm so sorry," the person squeaked. They stepped back nervously. It was a small girl, though she was likely not much younger than Ryan. Her light brown hair had fallen in front of her eyes, and she pushed it out of the way nervously. She looked up at him, the color of her eyes dazzling him for a moment. They were green, but not the normal green you see in eyes, nor a normal green you see in nature. They were light, a kind of color you'd see painted on the walls of a beach house. She put her hands in her coat. 

"I totally wasn't watching where I was going."

Ryan felt his cheeks turn a little pink. 

"It's fine, really. I wasn't paying attention either."

The girl blushed and laughed softly. 

"Gee, I guess we both need to get a little better at that." She turned to leave and started walking away, calling back to apologise a second time quickly before she left. 

Ryan touched his face for a moment. Too warm for his liking. He'd have to stop doing that. 

Ryan doesn't need to feel.

\-- --

In the distance, I can see him. He looks the same as I last saw him, only a lot taller in person. He wore a beanie this time, hiding his light brown hair. He has a beard, but it's well trimmed. He has on the same jacket he did the other day, with the addition of a black shirt underneath, jeans, and black boots. He blended in well, and if I hadn't been looking for him, I'd probably walk right past him.

But that's not the goal.

I waited at the end of the street, milling around slowly, until he started looking around and losing focus. That's when I made my move. 

I walked quickly down the street, hoping he wouldn't notice me. When I got close, I feigned tripping and fell into him, bracing myself with a hand to his chest and my shoulder hit his. As I did, I slipped my other hand into his jacket pocked. I grabbed the key out of the pocked and balled my fist around it as I pulled it out. I could hear myself apologising to him, but I was focused on the key. I took a step back, looking up at him.

He seemed stunned for a moment, and I took the oportunitiy to slip my hands into my jacket pockets, concealing the key. I heard myself saying something else, but I was already starting to walk away. He made no effort to stop me, so I kept going.

It worked perfectly. 

\-- --

It felt strange to be in a building this nice. The types of places I usually stay in are usually cheap, cash only type of arrangements. These guys however, they're balling out. They dropped some serious money on a place like this, which if you rob banks for a living, is the kind of thing you can do. Makes me wonder why I don't do that, but it doesn't take long to remember exactly why I stick to my kind of places. It's easier to hide there.

The elevator feels fast and slow all at once. I'm going to one of the highest levels, so it takes longer than your average elevator ride, but yet it's such a nice elevator that it takes less time than you think it would. It's better than climbing stairs, that's for sure.

The elevator has a mirror in the back, and I take a moment to look at myself. My hair is all over the place, thanks to the wind. I pull it up into a tight bun, and pull my hood up over my head. I straighten my gloves and zip my jacket up more. It's best I don't leave any evidence here.

The elevator dings and I step out. Apartment 40 should be at the end of the hall, and indeed it is. The key works easily, and I twist the knob, stepping in smoothly. 

The apartment can only be described as gorgeous. It features huge windows at the other end of the room that look out onto the skyline, letting sunlight spill into the living room with ease. It's very large and open, quite the opposite of my homes. On a far wall sits a large TV with an even larger couch in front of it. It curves around and has a table on the back of the side facing me, on which sits an open bottle of whiskey. 

But now is not the time. 

The room should be to the right of the doorway, according to the map Diego gave me. I swing open the door and I know immedietly I'm in the right place. On the opposite wall, there's a large map of Los Santos hung up with pins poked into it, with a whiteboard right next to it listing a bunch of information I wasn't goint to bother reading. There were shelves lined with weapons and ammunition, and I suspect there's even more hiding in the room. But my main concern is a safe located on the far wall.

It's fairly large, roughly the size of a nightstand. I pull a drill out of my backpack, and get to work.

Several minutes later, I've drilled a hole large enough to see through. From here I can stick a pair of tweezers in, and its light work. Eventually, the safe door swings open and I see everything that I've been working for. Stacks and stacks of bills piled up inside the safe, reaching from top to bottom and front to back. I unzip my backpack and start shoving them in. Lester said they'd be gone for a while, but I want out of here as fast as possible. The longer I stay, the higher the risk.

I finish up and scribble out a short note on a notepad I brought from home setting it inside the open safe. 

I turn to leave, and just as I do, I hear the front door open.


	5. Discovered

Gavin couldn't believe they made him walk all the way back to the apartment just because he forgot his earpiece. They have phones for a reason, if they need him they could just text him. What's the point of walking anyways? It all seemed too stupid for Gavin. 

He entered the apartment and sat still for a second. Where had he left it? They'd just used it the other day tailing those people, how could he not have remembered it this morning. I know exactly why, Gavin thought. 

Micheal. 

Micheal had decided this morning that he was going to turn off his alarms and wake him up with a bucket of cold water to the face. Gavin woke up in a panic, ready to start swinging, and there was Micheal laying on the floor as he had collapsed in a fit of giggles.

His hair is still wet from it.

What a load of bollocks. 

Gavin thought about it for a second more, and realized that it must be in the heist room. He turned to the right and put his hand on the door, starting to push it forward.

Wait. 

Gavin let go of the door. What an idiot he'd been. It's sitting on his dresser, right where he was left it last time. 

He walked down the stairs and into his room, grabbing the earpiece off the wooden dresser. He took a moment to look around, surveying the room. The floor around the bed was still damp, and Gavin was not happy about that. He needed to get Micheal back somehow, but that's another problem for another day. 

For now, Gavin needed to get back to walking to meet the rest of the guys at the construction site. 

\-- --

Cass waited until she heard the door shut and the footsteps to fade away before she slumped onto the ground. She was mere seconds from being caught, and now she could finally breathe again. She took a moment a catch her breath, then picked up her bag from the floor. It was time to leave. 

But before that, Cass remembered something she meant to do. She took out a notepad and scribbled out a short note, which she left inside the open safe. Her job here is done. 

\-- -- 

"I still can't believe you forgot your earpiece!"

"Oh come off it, it's tiny! How could I not?" Gavin rolled his eyes. He was never going to hear the end of this one.

Jeremy laughed to himself. It was a bit stupid, but they made fun of each other for everything. That was just how it works around here. 

They had just come back to the apartment after finishing their job, and now they were having a drink. It had gone fairly smoothly, aside from Gavin's hiccup, but they were able to scope out the gang's hiding place fairly well. Although, Jeremy kind of thought Ryan seemed off today. Normally he had a bit of fun on these missions, but today he was all business. They usually all have some fun on these, because it's natural to them. They all love what they do, so it's hard not to. They loved to have car chases and shoot-outs and all that good stuff. 

Jeremy remembered just the other day how Ryan was swerving all over the road on the way to Lester's. He almost hit several bikers, and the whole way they were laughed and cheering, as usual. But today on the way home, there was no swerving or hitting bikers. He seemed quiet, a little too quiet. 

Ryan is quiet a lot, it's in his nature and common for this business, but Ryan gets real unsettling when he's too quite for too long. Jeremy can remember one time too many where they've pissed him off and he's gotten quiet, only to blow up later at something insignificant. From the moment that he'd met him, Ryan had always been a quiet and, honestly, weird person. One could assume from the way he acted at that time that he'd spent his whole life alone and didn't know how to deal with other people, but the more accurate assumption is that he'd spent his whole life around batshit crazy people and was aclimated to that. 

Jeremy didn't really know the whole story, as he met Ryan after he was alone and Ryan never seemed to want to talk about it, but from what he understood he'd been part of a crew from a young age and something happened. From there on out Ryan was on his own. Until he met the three of them, of course. 

But today, Jeremy just thought that Ryan seemed off instead of his usual quiet. 

Aside from that the day had gone well, and now they could kick back and relax for the rest of it, probably getting drunk and playing games. They were gathered around the TV, trying to decide what to play. Micheal was waving around a bottle of whiskey, which Gavin was all too quick to snatch out of his hands, lest he throw it. Ryan sat across the room on a bar stool, seemingly deep in thought. Jeremy decided to chuck the remote at him.

"Hey asshole, get over here!" He yelled. The remote bounced off the counter and fell onto the floor while Ryan just stared at it blankly.

"Sure why not," Ryan shrugged. To Jeremy's surprise, he stoop up and walked over to the couch, plopping down in between him and Gavin. Gavin passed him the whiskey bottle, to which me made a face, but then took a swig of it. Ryan set the bottle on the coffee table, leaning back into the couch some more. Micheal sat up and thought for a moment.

"You know, you've been acting weird lately. We should go do something fun, and I've got the perfect idea." Micheal said as he stood up, wobbling a bit, not necessarily from the alcohol but mostly his tired legs that'd been curled up on the couch. He walked out and into the heist room where it was very quiet for a moment. 

"Um, guys? We've got a problem here," Micheal called. 

"What is it?" Ryan responded, looking mildly concerned with what of all things could actually be a problem to Micheal. He exited the room, looking rather pale. 

"Yeah uh our safe? It's empty." Ryan shot upwards, on his feet in seconds.

"It WHAT?" His voice echoed through the house, bouncing off the walls and into their ears. The rest quickly got up and followed Micheal into the heist room. Just as he'd said, the safe was completely empty, void of all of the money that the crew had just put in there, except for one small piece of paper. Written on the paper in elegant cursive:

Sorry I had to take this off your hands boys,  
but thanks for keeping it warm for me :)

-C

"Are you havin' a laugh? Somebody took all our money?"

"Looks like it," Micheal said, staring at the floor.

"Why didn't we put it in the bank?"

Ryan turned towards Gavin, visibly angry. 

"You can't deposit too much at once or they get suspicious," He said, throwing his hands in the air. 

Ryan sighed, pondering what to do. While that heist certainly hadn't been their biggest one and they could survive without keeping that money, someone just broke into their fucking house, drilled into their safe, and made off with their money. Just standing by and not disposing of whoever did that meant that they could just do it again, or worse next time. They couldn't afford to not do something. Ryan pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Lester, we have a problem. Someone just broke into our apartment and stole our money from the safe." On the other side, Lester burst out laughing, and you could hear several objects clatter to the floor. 

"My god, she actually did it!"

"She? Lester, what do you know about this? What'd you do?" He paused for a moment to catch his breath, and then started talking again.

"I didn't think she'd actually do it. I might've helped her out a bit, but she's pretty good. Don't worry, I know exactly where she is right now so you can take her down and get your money back," He said, sounding almost disappointed the more he talked. Ryan couldn't believe he'd just let some girl steal their money, but Lester was notoriously untrustworthy.

"Tell me where she is right now."

"Fine, I'll send you the address. Leave it to uncle Lester."

Ryan hung up and turned to the other three men, who were still absolutely flabbergasted. A single person had snuck into their apartment and made off with all their money? It was almost unbelievable. The four of them struggled sometimes to complete missions, but a single person did all this. But Ryan didn't care, because he was very angry. 

That girl was going to pay.

\-- --

Any minute now.

Any minute now, those guys should be here. This was basically a suicide mission. Lester called me maybe a half hour ago to warn me that they found on and were now headed to my location. Nice of him to warn me, I guess. I imagine he has a lot to do with how they know, but it's too late now. I knew the risks when I started this.

I was sitting, once again, in my least favorite home. That way, no matter what happens, all the damage goes to a property I don't like. Maybe I can get a new one if I make it out of this.

There's a long list of things I'd like to do if I make it out of this, but most of them are never going to happen regardless. Topping the list is seeing my brother. I'd like to see him again, but it's hard to imagine waltzing back into his life after nearly thirteen years and saying, "sorry I left over ten years ago, but I'm cool with it if you are." That's not something I'd do to him. 

I wanted him to be better than me, to never make the mistakes I did. I'm happy with my decisions, and I'll always stand by them because this is the life I was meant for. But it's not what he's meant for, and I hope it never becomes so. 

I hear a car pull up in the driveway. I guess this is it. I instinctively gripped my pistol a little tighter. I know they're here. To my right, there's light footsteps outside and going around back, no doubt securing the perimeter. I don't know where to look, so I settle for the front door. 

And then it swings open. 

And in walks two men carrying some very intimidating rifles. I lean back. 

"What's up boys?"


	6. Decisive Confontation

Ryan strolled into the room confidently, Micheal right behind him. Maybe living in their penthouse for so long had spoiled him, but this just looked sad. On the outside, the house needed some definite repairs, not to mention a good power washing. It was also very overgrown and all together the place looked like it was abandoned years ago, which Ryan supposed was the goal. The inside was no different, being nearly empty in both the kitchen and living room, save for a few stools, two chairs, and one couch. Said couch was across the room, and on it sat the exact same girl he'd bumped into this morning.

"YOUUU!" Behind him, Micheal tried to keep from laughed, but couldn't help from giggling. Through the comms, Gavin and Jeremy erupted into laughter. Even the girl on the couch cracked a smile. But this was their fearless leader, so they would wait until they got home to make fun of him. 

What a crack team they looked like. Both dressed in all black, carrying some very large guns. The taller one appeared to be the man she stole the key from, only now he was wearing some very intimidating facepaint. His forehead was painted red, with the rest of his face painted white. His eyes were covered in black paint that dripped down his cheeks, and the sides of his jaw were also blacked out. Combined with the black lines he'd drawn over his lips, and he looked like a very angry skull. He lacked the beanie he was wearing today, and Cass could see now that he had light brown hair that was almost as light as her's. 

The other man was not quiet as tall as the one in front, and he made no effort to hide his face. He had curly brown hair that looked to be dark brown, but was also nearing red territory. As he entered the room, he had looked fairly angry, but now that he was laughing at the other man, his face had softened considerably.

They stopped at the edge of the living room, leaving plenty of space between them. Ryan watched her carefully as she uncurled her legs from underneath her and sat her mug down on the floor next to the couch. She leaned forward slightly and put her hands on her knees. 

"So, what can I do ya for?" She asked, smirking a little as if she had no idea what was happening. 

"We're here for our money that you stole from us," Ryan responded, equally confident. 

"I only stole it because you stole it first." 

"Not from you."

"You might as well have. I spent WEEKS coming up with a plan and slowly putting it into action, and you yank the rug right out from under me with just days until I was going to do it? There's no way you spent that long planning it without noticing me and vice versa."

"You're right, we didn't plan it, we just walked in and stole it," Ryan said, very clearly mocking her now.

"You didn't work for that money, I did!" Cass stood up, pointing an accusing finger at their faces. "I earned that money, and I'm not letting you take that from me." Her voice was low and threatening; she was not about to back down without a fight. 

"I don't care what you did, it belongs to us now. So either you give it back to us, or we shoot you dead and take it."

She threw her hands in the air, smiling confidently. "Go ahead, you'll never find it. Tear the place apart if you want, it's not here." Ryan and Micheal exchanged glances, not knowing what to do with this information. She was prepared to take it to the grave. They could call her bluff, but that was a game of chance in itself. Ryan could try and torture it out of her, but there's a chance she wouldn't give it up. Even if she did give them an answer, it was one given out of pain and fear, and therefore couldn't be trusted. There seemed no way to get the money from her if she wasn't willing to give it up.

Ryan sighed. 

"Fine, if we can't beat you, then how about you join us?"

There was a stillness in the air. Nobody moved a muscle. Not even the boys outside, who had a knack for talking through the comms when nobody was listening, said a word. Cass stood there, mouth wide open in shock. 

"I'm sorry, what'd you just say?"

"How about you join us?" Micheal turned his head to look at Ryan. He'd never mentioned anything about this, this wasn't part of the plan at all. 

"What're you playing at? What kind of scheme is this? You can't be serious," Cass said, walking closer. This was too suspicious and out of the blue for it to be real. 

"No scheme. You're too good to be working against us and stealing our money, so why not work with us?" Ryan was being completely honest, for once. She was too much of a risk to ignore, so if they couldn't beat her, she'd continue to be a problem. Even if they just killed her now, they'd never get their money back, not to mention she could be fairly useful to them. "What do you say?" 

Cass hesitated. Maybe they were banking on her saying no, or maybe they were just going to take it and kick her out. But either way, it was weird. She weighed her options for a moment. 

There weren't many. 

It was the sort of offer that wasn't quite an offer, but more of a statement. It's subtext read: this is your only option, and we're just saying it like this to make you think you have a choice. But you don't. 

"Yeah, I'll join you."

"I'm sorry, what?" Micheal whipped his head around to look at her. Weird things happen in their line of work, and this wasn't unheard of, but it was definitely unorthodox. But Ryan is the one in charge, and if this was the road he wanted to walk down, he'd follow him down it to the end of the line. 

Ryan stuck out her hand and she shook it, grinning the whole time. Working with this many people would be....interesting, but Cass had a feeling that it might actually turn out okay.

\-- --

A couple of hours later, back in the comfort of his own home, Ryan sat on the couch with Cass explaining all of what they do and how things operate. It felt strange to Cass to be back in the apartment and not trying to steal something. It was just as nice at night, though slightly darker. Micheal, Gavin, and Jeremy had long gone to sleep downstairs, too tired and confused to bother going back to their own homes. Cass herself was dreading having to go home. 

"So, that's about it, I guess," Ryan said, staring off into the distance as he thought. "Oh yeah, we're in between setups for a heist right now, so you can help with those as sort of a test to see how good you are."

"A test? Aw shit, I'm not great at those, I dropped out for a reason," Cass said, half joking and half serious. Ryan laughed. 

"I seriously hope you can't fail this one," He responded. "Besides, we just want to see what you're good at so we know what you should be doing." Cass nodded. She didn't even know what she's really good at. Cass has always had to do everything, regardless of whether she was good at or not. Maybe it'd be nice to have other people there to do the things she wasn't good at. 

"So, um. About me getting home..." 

"There's an empty bedroom upstairs you can borrow if it's too much trouble to get home." 

Cass nodded, very grateful to not have to find a way home. The two of them walked up the stairs. Upstairs, there was a short hallway that opened up at the end where there was a window and several chairs. On each side of the hallway there was a door, likely opening up to rooms. 

"Alright, your room is on the right. Let me know if you need anything." Cass nodded and thanked him as she opened the door and walked in. He watched her enter the room. Even walked she looked elegant; she carried herself with a certain air that reminded Ryan of royalty almost. He could easily imagine a crown atop her head. How could someone that lived a life of crime appear so regal and elegant? Yet another mystery about her to figure out. Ryan leaned against the wall, deep in thought. Just a few hours earlier, he was ready to put this girl in an early grave, and now she was staying in his house. Strange how life worked.


	7. Getting To Work

When Cass awoke the next morning, she was slightly confused. For her, waking up usually was a quick affair. Cass owned some fairly uncomfortable beds, and she tried not to stay in bed any longer than she had to. There's always something to be done, and she didn't like to waste time when she could be making money. But here, she was comfortable. Cass almost didn't want to get out of bed. She looked around the room, taking it all in as she hadn't done last night. The room was quite large, with the bed on the opposite wall of the door. A third wall was all windows, facing out to the skyline. Morning light poured through them, diffusing into the room giving it a soft glow. 

In the corner by the window there sat a small coffee table and chairs, but aside from that, the room had no other furniture. It had a nice color scheme that matched the rest of the house, being mostly black and white with a few brown accents throughout. The room as a whole seemed to have long been unoccupied, with the sheets a bit stiff and some dust over various surfaces. 

Cass realized she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday, which was only mildly annoying. She hated sleeping in jeans; it always left those lines up and down her legs, but she was apparently so tired last night that it didnt matter. 

She sat up, thinking about what she should do. She decided on going downstairs to make some coffee. Despite how good of a sleep she had last night, she was too far gone to not drink any. Cass put her hair up into a ponytail to hide how gross it had become over night. Her hair was sort of wavy, so it had to be washed often or it'd get too greasy.

She walked down the stairs quietly, determined to not wake anyone else up. But all of that was shattered as soon as she stepped foot on the main floor and instantly heard yelling.

"AYEEE! Good morning!" All four men yelled at once. Cass recoiled slightly, not used to loud noises in the morning. The rest, however, were all to used to it. There was always that one person that came in yelling while the others were tired and hungover, and it became a bit of a habit to disrupt each other's mornings as soon as they came in. The thought never occured to them that Cass was very not used to that. 

She walked sluggishly towards the coffee pot on the counter, helping herself to the coffee they'd already made. She took a sip and squinted her eyes for a moment, trying to adjust. They all stared at her, waiting for her to say something. She looked down at her mug.

"This is shit," she muttered, then immediately downed the rest of it. The four others cheered, lifting their own drinks into the air. 

"Alright," Ryan said, clapping his hands together as he stood up, "we've got a set up to do today, so let's meet back down here in forty-five minutes so we can get this over with." They all nodded and headed back to their respective rooms, except for Cass. She hesitated by the coffee pot, wondering what to do. She had no clothes to change into here, so she was going to repeat yesterday's outfit, plus she didn't have enough time for a shower. 

"Hey, Ryan? This is probably a dumb question, but do you happen to have any makeup remover anywhere around here?" Cass knew the likely answer to that, but she asked in hope anyways. 

"Actually I do," Ryan responded, not skipping a beat. "That facepaint is a bitch to remove, so I have some upstairs that you can use." As surprising as that was, Cass was elated to have the chance to remove the eyeliner that had migrated to under her eyes during the night. They walked upstairs and into Ryan's room, which was not significantly nicer than hers, but a little bit so. It had the exact same layout, just on the other side of the hall. There was also a unit of shelves on the wall opposite of the windows. They held several weapons, figures, and the occasional book. There was some clutter on his nightstand and the coffee table, which was expected for someone who actually spent time in their own home, but it was moderate. Unlike Cass's room, Ryan's room opened up to a very large bathroom. Her's was a lot smaller than this. It looked similar to both of their rooms, with a modern color scheme. It was fairly small compared to the rest of the room and the apartment as a whole, containing a double sink, and a tub/shower combo. 

Ryan handed her a small bottle. 

"Here, I'll let you do that in here." Ryan walked out and Cass started cleaning up her makeup in the mirror. 

\-- --

Ryan changed into a plain black tee shirt and jeans, topping it all off with his signature blue and black jacket. The jacket had become a brand of sorts for Ryan. No matter where he went, the jacket followed. The group had never seen another one like it, and if they had they'd all have their own to mock him. It was an identifier; if they ever lost him in a crowd they knew to look for the jacket. The rest of the guys had teased him endlessly when they all realized it was all he ever wore and assumed there must be some sort of sentimental reason for wearing the exact same jacket every single day, but Ryan just liked it, that's all. 

He grabbed a jar of black facepaint on the shelf and put it in the pocket of his jacket. Ryan learned a long time ago to put the facepaint on in the car, otherwise he got some very concerned looks and comments on the way out. It was...precarious trying to put it on while one of the boys was driving, but it was a risk he had to take for the sake of dramatics. 

Cass walked out of the bathroom, having finished fixing her makeup. She leaned against the wall, taking a moment to look at Ryan. He had his back to her, so he hadn't noticed her yet. To Cass, he seemed like an intimidating figure. Throughout her career, she mostly worked alone, and when she did work with men, they were usually tech people. Not to pigeon-hole anyone, but no one she'd ever worked with had been nearly as imposing as Ryan was. He had to stand at least six inches taller than her, if not eight. In this whole heist get up, he looked even more imposing. She'd say she didn't want to be on his bad side, but she already had been. 

Ryan turned around and smiled at her.

"Ready?" Cass nodded and they walked downstairs to wait on the others.

\-- --

Several minutes later, all five sat in the living room, listen to Ryan lay out the plan.

"Alright, Jeremy and Cass are going to take one armoured car and drive to the South side of the military base, while the rest of us are taking another to the North side. Cass and Jeremy are breaching first and taking out everyone they can, drawing as much people as possible to their side of the base. When they've done that, we'll breach on our side, and not a moment sooner."

Everyone nodded. 

"We're going to go in and Micheal is going to get out and steal an Insurgent, an armored vehicle. As soon as he's got it we're pulling out. We have to lose the cops before we go anywhere else, then once we've done that we're going to meet back up at Lester's warehouse, leave the Insurgent there, and head home. Got it?"

Everyone nodded once more. Cass put her hand up slightly.

"Sooo, what's this all for?" They all exchanged glances, probably wondering whether or not they should tell me. After a few moments, Ryan gave in. 

"Currently, a gang in midtown is holding hostage a woman who allegedly is very important to some top secret deep state stuff that Lester says we can't know about. The government officially can't do anything about it, so someone enlisted Lester, and in turn us, to bust her out."

Cass soaked in the information. That was some touchy shit, and they were also working against the clock. It'd be the first time she'd ever worked to do something for someone else, which was strange. All of her heists had been for personal gain, at first just to survive, and then for stuff she wanted. She picked up a pistol and holstered it, then grabbed another gun and threw it over her shoulder and headed downstairs. 

"You're telling me I have to ride in that?" Cass stood at the edge of the sidewalk, staring at possibly the most hideous monstrosity in the history of cars. "What did you do to it?!" 

"Whaddya mean? It's the Armored Tim! It's beautiful!" Jeremy protested. The car was an awful combination of purple and orange. It was not discreet in the slightest, though perhaps that wouldn't be so bad as they were meant to be a distraction, but it was immensely ugly. She shook her head and climbed inside, mumbling something about "desecrating such a beautiful car". 

It'd take them roughly twenty five minutes to reach the south side of the base. The two chatted lightly throughout the drive, learning bits and pieces about each other. Cass learned Jeremy had joined the crew about four years ago, but his entrance was much more smooth. Ryan had already met Micheal and Gavin, as he found them in desperate need of assistance while commiting a crime. Jeremy came around a year after them. Ryan had went to scope out a location ahead of time and found a homeless Jeremy sleeping on the ground. Jeremy avoided exactly how he ended up in that position, but throughout the story he seemed to very grateful for what Ryan had done. 

By the time that story was over, they were about five minutes out. Cass stared out the window. She'd never attempted a raid on the military base before, it just wasn't possible for her alone. To her side, Jeremy asked her a question about how she got started. She wasn't sure if she wanted to answer. It was a stupid story with some really stupid results, and it wasn't worth telling. So she settled for a more vague answer.

"How does anybody? I made a few wrong turns and suddenly I ended up somewhere I liked being." Jeremy nodded, definitely relating to that. He sensed that she also didn't exactly want to say what happened to lead her to where she is now. For most people, that was a touchy subject.

They pulled up to the outside gate and parked. The base was an imposing figure, but only for someone who knew what lay inside. Anyone passing by wouldn't be too concerned. The fence was high, lined with barbed wire at the top. The sunlight was blinding, reflecting off the light concrete and metal. Made her almost regret wearing a jacket. The nearest shade was a building several hundred feet away, too far to do any good but not far enough to put her mind at ease. Thankfully, it was quiet here right now, and that made her feel better. 

Cass took a few moments to load her gun while her partner grabbed C-4 to attach to the fence. When she finished that she backed up his car a ways to protect it from the blast and sat on the hood. Any minute now, somebody on patrol should be coming around, but they needed to breach sometime before that. 

It took him a few minutes, but Jeremy eventually finished attaching all the wires for the detonator. He was ready. He got behind the car with Cass, who picked up her walkie-talkie, as she hadn't been given a comm yet. 

"Alright guys, you're about to hear an explosion in three.

Two.

One."


	8. The First Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I've had this chapter written for a really long time, but I've been really busy lately with work. Also I'll be honest and admit I forgot about this fic for a while. I'm going to try and update more regularly now :)

The explosion rocked through my body, and I had to lean over and put my hand on the ground to brace myself. To my right, Jeremy had his hands over his ears. We couldn't sit behind the car for too long, though, because any moment now they'd sound the alarm. Jeremy climbed on top of the car, watching as the smoke dispersed into the air. I picked up my gun and walked out from behind the car. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see through the haze. There wasn't a lot of smoke, and what was there was starting to move upwards into the sky, but it wasn't easy to see through. You could, however, see shadows. 

"Jeremy, on the left!" We both fired off a few shots in that directions, aiming for the few men that had already arrived. At that time the siren went off, alerting more to our breach of the outside wall. The walkie-talkie beeped, and I held it up to my ear.

"Great job guys, everyone's starting to leave. We still have some here though, so keep going." Ryan said. I could see some more people approaching from the left, and in the distance I see a vehicle. I call out to Jeremy, and we fire more at the approaching soldiers. 

Time passes both slowly and quickly at the same time as we shoot, trying to attract attention. Before we know it, the vehicle is in front of us, and more men pour out of it, firing at us. We have to move around quickly, ducking behind the car when we can. For now, it's our only cover, and if we want more we need to push back to get to the large van they came from. 

This was not a firefight we intend to win. I climbed on top of the car unleashing a barrage of bullets to the men hiding behind the vehicle. There was yelling and screaming, loud noises, and smoke everywhere. I picked up my walkie talkie again, yelling into it. 

"You better be fucking close!"

"I second that!" Jeremy yelled from behind the car. We were out in the open, shooting at who knows how many people, and it's only a matter of time before a tank showed up. In fact, I think I could hear one off in the distance. I signal to Jeremy, and we fire again. If we are going to fight a tank, it's better to not have a bunch of people shooting at us while we do it. 

"He's in it, now about to pull out. There's people showing up now, I think we need another distraction." Ryan said on the other end. I could here several gunshots through the walkie-talkie. 

"Jeremy! You got any grenades back there?"

"In the trunk! Cover me while I open it!" He answered. I hopped off the car, pushing forwards. Bullets flew around around me, occasionally hitting my chest armour. 

Son of a bitch, that really hurts. 

There's a pretty good chance any of these could kill me, but the goal here is to kill them first. 

"Pull back! I'm throwing!" I shot off a few last times before turning around to run behind the car. Yet another explosion sounded, and I put my finger on the button of the walkie-talkie. 

"Any good news?" 

"Any second now..." I waited for what felt like years. "Alright! We're good to go!" I stood back up and started firing to cover Jeremy while he got in the car, then he covered me. We sped away, leaving confused soldiers in our wake, scrambling to get in vehicles to try and chase after us. 

\-- -- 

Nearly an hour later, they finally lost the cops and made it back to Lester's place. Cass had never been there before, but it was every bit isolated and in the middle of nowhere as she could've expected from the man. It was right in the middle of an empty desert, the only building around for a least a couple miles. Jeremy pulled up outside of the warehouse building; Ryan was leaning against the side, while Micheal and Gavin got in the Insurgent, probably to park it inside. They got out, Jeremy heading inside while Cass walked towards Ryan. 

She wore a large grin on her face, which Ryan matches as soon as he saw her. They high fived, and Cass put her hands on her knees.

"Oh my god, I can't believe we actually just did that!" She sat up, looking at him and laughing. They had just accomplished something ridiculous, and she really couldn't comprehend it yet. Ryan punched her on the shoulder as he laughed.

"You did pretty good for your first military run," he said, genuinly meaning it. It was a quick trip, which military operations usually aren't. Ryan could remember his first run trying to steal some weapons. It went south fast, and Geoff had to call it off before they all died. Ryan got pretty banged up and had to spend the whole night stitching himself up. He still has a scar on this thigh from a grazed bullet. 

Cass laughed, out of breath. She couldn't belive they really just pulled it off. She was nearly out of her mind with adrenaline. Cass leaned against Ryan, trying to steady herself. He gripped her waist keeping her upright. She felt light, and her side tingled a bit where he touched her. 

Ryan looked down at Cass, and he saw a completely different person than the girl he saw on the street that day. Then, it was all an act. Cass had put on a show to fool him, and she had put on a character, who admittedly was very pretty, but this was something else entirely. She was so in her element now, with her hair tied up, yet falling in her face despite the effort. She brushed it out of the way, and Ryan watched her as she looked around the desert. She was sweaty, and gross, and way out of breath, but she was glowing. This was her element, this is where she belonged, and it showed. Ryan's face felt warm all of a sudden, and he pulled away as the others approached. 

"Alright!" Micheal threw his hands in the air, and Gavin grabbed onto him, scrambling on top of his back. 

"What the fuck are you doing?" Micheal asked, to which Gavin just shrugged as he clung to him. He hopped off, giggling quietly. Micheal rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed but not letting it bother him too much. They all high-fived and waited for the okay from Lester. 

"Yeah, we definitely need a third next time," Jeremy said. 

"No kidding!" Cass yelled, tripping over herself as she rushed to agree. "All you fucks had to do was steal a car, meanwhile Jeremy and I were trying to battle the whole base at once, plus I'm pretty sure there was a tank on the way." Everyone agreed amongst themselves. The teams there were a little lopsided. 

Lester walked out from around the corner, and was slightly surprised to see Cass standing there with them. He'd pretty much expected them to kill her, but this was probably a better alternative. 

"Alright, that's done! My source tells me they're set to move her in three days, on Wednesday. Right as they start to transfer her, you're going to bust in and shoot up the place. Try not to kill her." Lester walked off towards his house, leaving us to deal with ourselves. 

"Well, I guess we'd better go."

\-- --

I sat on the couch, wrapping myself up with a blanket. I felt like garbage. My body ached everywhere, and it was barely four hours after. The adrenaline has long worn off and all that was left were my muscles screaming at me. It hurt the worst in my chest, where some bullets had hit me. It may stop them from going in but it sure as hell doesn't stop it from hurting. I heard someone walk out behind me. It was Ryan, who since we got home, spent most of the evening trying to remove the facepaint, which apparently took quite a bit of time. 

"Hey Cass, you feeling alright?" He peered over at me, watching my body slide down the couch.

"No, I feel like shit and I want ice cream and to be thrown in a pit and everything hurts," I whined as I collapsed on the floor.

"Ice cream?"

"Yeah. I want something cold so it doesn't hurt."

"We could...go get some, you know." Ryan said leaning against the couch. I perked up instantly.

"Seriously?" I stood up quickly, bracing myself with the seat. He picked his keys up off the counter.

"Yeah, let's go." He turned towards the door and I scrambled after him, nearly falling over as I did.

\-- --

"Oh my god, this looks like the best ice cream ever." We were stood outside perhaps the coolest ice cream store I've ever been to, no pun intended. I grabbed Ryan's hand and raced inside. Standing at the counter, I practically vibrated with excitement. I ordered a mint chocolate chip cookie bowl with brownie bits and Ryan got a small chocolate chip cookie dough. He only mocked me slightly for my choice. Several minutes later, we sat outside leaning on the hood of his car eating his ice cream.

My chest still hurt, but the cool atmosphere soothed it a little, plus I was a little distracted. It wasn't dark yet, but it was far more cool than it had been at noon. Anything was better than the sun bearing down on us. 

"So I got a question. What's with the facepaint?" I said after a few moments of silence. I'd only seen Ryan a few times, but he was often found wearing some kind of facepaint. It was a little weird honestly, especially finding him walking around the house when he had yet to take it off.

"Gotta disguise my face somehow, and it makes me look pretty scary so it's a win-win really." Ryan shrugged. "It started out just with the black paint under the mask, then I started doing skull designs with it. Now it's just my thing."

"It's pretty cool, I like it." He smiled at me.

"So how'd you get started with all this?" He asked. Normally I would want to avoid that question, but it felt like he really wanted to know. He looked in my direction, waiting for an answer.

"It's a long story, really," I sighed. "My family was...not great. We didn't get along well, and I started hanging out with people I shouldn't have been with just so I'd be out of the house. Eventually, I was just out doing illegal shit all the time. Then one day I got tired of doing the back and forth, so I took off. And now I'm here." It's been a long time since I've told anyone that story. It's not hard to relive, and most of it has never been painful, but it never made me feel great about myself. I've told Diego, and now Ryan knows some bits, but most people don't know where I come from.

"Didn't get along?" He asked, his face full of confusion. That was always so difficult to explain to people. So many families are just one way or another; you love them or you hate them.

"It's hard to describe. They held me to a standard I could never meet, and I was never good enough for what they wanted." Ryan nodded, looking like he understood completely. He scooted closer to me.

"I know it's hard to get used to, but we're your family now." He put a hand on my shoulder. "You're not an outsider. You're one of us." I smiled gently.

"Thanks, Ryan. That means a lot."

\-- --

Back at the apartment, Ryan and Cass walked up to their respective rooms. They spoke softly about future heist plans and Cass thanked him repeatedly for the ice cream. They stopped outside of their doors, gazing at each other for a moment. She opened her mouth to thank Ryan yet again, but he stopped her. 

"Seriously, you don't need to thank me." Cass turned pink, slightly embarrased now.

"It was just really nice of you. Nobody's every really done something that nice for me before." Ryan's face registered a slight bit of surpirse before he went back to smiling. 

"Glad I could do it then." He turned and walked into his room. Cass touched her hand to her cheek for a moment, feeling the warmth of her face. It's been a long time since she'd blushed at something, or someone for that matter, not that she realized that's what it was. What a strange feeling that was. She walked into her own room, thinking about how she really needed to go back to staying at her own house. She couldn't keep staying in Ryan's house like this. But that was a problem for future Cass, because present Cass was too damn tired to try and go home. 

Meanwhile, Ryan was sat on the edge of the bed, wondering what the hell just happened. He'd felt this before, and it never ended well. He decided to go with his usual solution, which was to ignore it, and hope it'd go away. Cass was a part of their family now, and he couldn't be getting involved with her no matter what.


	9. A New Revelation

Waking up in this house yet again was such a strange experience. I'd done it before, but it's weird to be here two nights in a row since it wasn't my house. It's been a very long time since I've stayed in other people's houses. Starting out, that's all I could do. But once I was able to get my own place, I pretty much stayed there, especially since I tended to work by myself. 

However, if Ryan was going to offer me a place to stay that was far nicer than mine, I wasn't going to argue. I did need to get some more clothes though. 

Upon walking downstairs, I find Ryan sitting at the counter, eating breakfast. He mumbles good morning and I return it with a smile, rummaging around in the fridge of something to eat. I pull out a gallon jug of apple juice, because everyone who lives here is a child. 

"Where's everyone else?" I ask. It's fairly late in the morning, and I figured they'd be up and about by now, being far more used to operating like that than I am. 

"They're at their own houses, seeing their girlfriends or wives since we have a few days off." 

"Oh, they have significant others? That's nice, that never worked out well for me." Ryan looked surprised for a moment, but it faded as he laughed slightly. 

"Really? Why's that?" I rolled my eyes. Relationships didn't meld well with this job, and they certainly didn't with me. 

"I've never been all that many serious relationships. Everyone I've ever dated that I told them what I do always wanted me to get out if the business because it 'wasn't good for me' or 'I wasn't cut out for that life'. I hated hearing that, so I just quit dating after a while." I didn't miss it either, not that much. I'd made a few friends since those days and I appreciated them far more than I ever did those people. Ryan nodded, deep in thought. What I would give to be a mind reader. 

"What about you, you hiding any girlfriends anywhere," I said, laughing a bit. He shook his head, laughing as well. 

"Yeah right. I haven't dated anyone in years, especially not seriously," Ryan responded as he stood up and put his plate in the sink. I took a sip of my juice. That was reasonable, though slightly surprising. I figured he of all people would have a significant other, but to each their own. 

"By the way, Ryan, do you mind taking me to my house so I can get some stuff, or I can just stay there." 

"I don't mind you staying here, especially given the state of your house. We all live here most days because it's easiest, and I don't mind you doing that either." I nodded and we agreed to drive to my house fairly close to here, one of the better ones where I keep most of my stuff that I like. All I had to do was get some clothes and some of my gear, so this would be pretty easy, right?

Right?

\-- -- 

We pulled up to my house and got out and walked to the door as Ryan looked around outside. I went inside and gathered up everything I thought I needed and stuffed it into a duffle bag. There wasn't a whole lot that I needed, but it still took me a while. This house was slightly messier than my other one, and definitely messier than Ryan's house. It was difficult finding clothes and guns strewn about through they house, but I found everything I'd set out to find eventually. 

I walked outside to see Ryan standing next to my car on the carport, staring at it. 

"Ryan? You ready?" He didn't answer for a moment, but eventually he turned and looked at me.

"That's....your...car?" Ryan asked, slightly stunned. I could feel myself turning red. It was pretty old; it was probably due several shop visits I was too paranoid to take up. It wasn't great, and it wasn't that reliable, but it was nice? Maybe?

"Yeah.." Ryan clicked his tongue. He circled around the car, narrowing his eyes. He stopped in front of me again and crossed his arms.

"This won't do at all."

"What?"

"I said, this won't do. Come on." He motioned me closer and we walked to his car.

"You're not serious."

"I'm dead serious." 

\-- --

We sat in front of the nicest car that's ever been in my presence, and certainly the nicest one I'd ever possibly driven. It was sleek, and red, and it brought me back to having my first vehicle when I turned sixteen. It was an old beat up bright red pick-up truck that I saw on the side of the road in the middle of Nebraska. I drove it for years after that, and it was probably my favorite vehicle I'd ever had. It broke down maybe seven years after I bought it, and I've had a habit of buying garbage vehicles ever since.

And now Ryan wanted to buy me this...thing. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, but it's certainly not something that I'm used to. I'm used to driving cars on the brink of falling apart, not something that looks like it comes from a sci-fi video game. I could not let Ryan get this for me.

"Absolutely not, Ryan."

"Hear me out, Cass. You're one of us now, and if you ever need to use your own car, you can't be driving something like that around. You need something that's fast, and won't break down in the middle of the road. And, since we inducted you into our crew, it's only right that the crew pays for it." He puffed out his chest, probably feeling awfully confident for that one. I put my head in my hands.

"Ryan. I can't do that." My argument was weak, and he knew it. I really did need a nice, good car for this business, and now that I worked with them, I couldn't afford to risk it with the monstrosity that I drive. He gave me a look and waved over a salesperson. I stared at the car, zoning out a bit.

What the fuck is my life now?

\-- --

Before any of them knew what's going, there was a brand new car for Cass sitting in the garage among all of the rest of the crew's cars. It was the first time she'd ever been inside, and what a magical place it looked like to her. It was a combination of ridiculously good looking sports cars and military vehicles that would make Uncle Sam cry. It was incredible, and now Cass's new car had a seat among the rest of them. 

She'd driven it home and it gave her a feeling of power that she'd never felt before, especially not driving her old car. It was slightly less inconspicuous than the old one, but that didn't seem to matter much if you pulled up guns blazing. Besides, Cass was starting to notice that this city had more nice cars than not. 

Having returned home, Cass unpacked all her stuff and walked back downstairs, where she was greeted with the rest of the guys, who had come home in the time that it took her to put away everything. She sat on the couch next to Gavin and propped her feet on his knees, laying down as she did. Micheal was sat at bar drinking a beer with Jeremy, and Ryan was at the other end of the couch by himself. They talked about their day and the time they'd spent with their significant others. Ryan appeared, as usual, to be in thought, though he nodded as everyone talked. Cass asked about their partners, wanting to know about the people that were in her team's life. 

Gavin went first, telling of the beautiful girl he'd fallen in love with years ago. She was a model, he said, and they met when Gavin first moved to the United States. He blushed as he talked about her, describing the beautiful girl he'd spent years with. Cass kicked her feet as she listened, feeling the happiness as he spoke. He never directly said how much he loved her, but he talked about her softly the way one does when they love someone, and Cass could tell exactly how he felt because of it. 

Then it was Jeremy's turn. He told Cass of his fiancée, who he'd dated since high school. The two of them were parents to three cats, of whom Jeremy pulled up pictures for Cass to fawn over. She worked at a company downtown, and when given the free time, he'd occasionally bring her lunch. He told her how they planned to get married next spring, and she smiled gently to herself. He was happy, and that was evident, and deep down Cass wished for a sort of comfortable happiness like Jeremy had; the kind where you could stay exactly where you are for the rest of your life and be okay with it.

Finally, Micheal stood up and downed the rest of his beer before talking about his wife. He talked of her fondly, yet called her a complete freak, but in the way you would someone you loved when you knew all the things that made them weird. The way he spoke, Cass could imagine they'd been together for a lifetime, but in fact they'd been together nearly five years. They had a baby on the way, Micheal told her, and she grinned. He was very excited, in the way that only an expectant first time father could be, and it warmed Cass's heart.

Ryan watched as they all told Cass what love they had in their lives. She was pink all throughout her face, and to him it seemed like she glowed a bit. She pushed her hair out of her face and shifted her feet resting on Gavin's legs, and for a moment Ryan wished she was sitting next to him with her legs propped on his. He pushed the thought out of his head, and looked at her again. Her long brown hair spilled off the couch, and she wore grey shirt and black jeans, which seem to be a trend for her. Her socks, however, were bright pink, so it seemed that she wasn't all opposed to color. She looked so effortlessly beautiful to Ryan, like she could wake up in the morning and be as every bit pretty as she was right now. 

She looked so happy in this moment, and he wished that he could make her happy like that. It was a selfish wish of his, that she'd like him, but one that he had all the same. Ryan couldn't remember the last time he'd been interested in someone like this. Cass was pretty, interesting, and above all she was part of the same world he was a part of. He'd met women in the industry before, but they were brief interactions. This world was competitive, and Cass was so casual about everything it was almost endearing. He began staring at the ground, hoping they'd leave him out of the conversation if he didn't look at them. 

It was an afternoon for happy chatter and slight embarrassment on the parts of those sharing their stories. They talked for a few more hours, swapping stories of relationships, both failed and successful, before the conversation drifted onto work. They talked about their favorite heists and the moments that stuck with them the most. Cass told them a story of hang-gliding through the mountains to break into people's houses, while Micheal ratted out Gavin for once driving a car into the ocean. The three laughed and talked, nearly forgetting that Ryan sat right next to them in silence. 

Eventually, Cass realized she wanted to get a shower before dinner, so she stood up and said temporary goodbyes. As she walked up the stairs, conversation died off and all eyes turned to Ryan. 

Ryan put his head in his hands. Just yesterday he swore that he wouldn't get involved with her, yet here he was, wanting to do exactly that. It wasn't that Ryan thought it wouldn't end well, though that was a constant thread through most of his thoughts. It's too easy for everything to go bad, for her to get hurt or something to happen to the team. But they'd all signed up for that long ago, knowing the risks when they did. That's not where Ryan's concerns lied right now. It had been a very long time since Ryan dated someone, and while those were things you never truely forgot thanks to instinct, he struggled with the idea of dating someone and doing it well. He certainly wouldn't want to mess up the friendship he was forming with Cass right now, much less lose a valuable team member they'd just gained. Lost in his thoughts, Ryan almost didn't notice Micheal trying to get his attention. 

"Hey, fuck! What's up with you?" Micheal moved onto the couch as he cracked open another beer, and Jeremy did the same, but grabbed the bottle of whiskey on the table behind Ryan. 

"Yeah, what's up with you man? You've been acting weird lately." Jeremy echoed as he sat down. 

"You're not usually this quiet." Micheal was right, Ryan was a quiet person but this was something else. Lately the only time he talked was when he was with Cass, but when they were all together he was silent. Ryan looked up at the ceiling, contemplating what he should do for a moment. But these were his best friends, and they did deserve to know.

"Guys... I think I like her." 

There was silence in the room. They turned to look at each other. It surprising, yet not at the same time. They had noticed he had been strange around her, either really friendly or suddenly distant at a moments notice. Before they could all really finish processing this news, there was a shrill giggle from Gavin. He climbed over the couch and slapped Ryan on the back.

"That's top, Ryan!" The others nodded and smiled. 

"That's...not how I expected this to go," Ryan mumbled, starting to turn a little pink. 

"What'd you expect, getting made fun of? We'll get to that in a bit, but we gotta be happy for you first," Micheal said. 

"Honestly, Ryan, I though you were gonna be single forever!" Gavin yelled. Ryan threw his hands in the air, standing up quickly.

"Woah woah woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have no idea how she feels about me." The other three men turned to each other, knowing exactly what they were all thinking. Sly smiles arose on their faces, adding to Ryan's worry. 

"Sounds like a job for us," Jeremy said. 

"Oh, fuck."


	10. Preperation

"That is absolutely the dumbest idea I've ever heard."

"I know, right? It's great."

"Cass, you're absolutely nuts. We aren't blowing anything up."

Cass sighed and put her head down.

"Well fuck my ideas then, huh?" She mumbled beneath her arms. Ryan shook his head and they all collectively rolled their eyes.

"Anyways, ignoring that, the job is tomorrow morning, so we'd better take today to prepare," Ryan announced as he stood up from the table. "Take inventory of body armor, bullets, guns, everything you might need. Cass, can you snipe?"

She picked her head up, looking at him quizzically.

"Yeah, I'm alright but not great."

"You don't need to be great. You've got a good eye, so I just need you to be a watchman. There's a couple people you can pick off, I just need you to call when they bring her out and then come down when you're done up there." She nodded.

"Got it, I'll get some stuff for that."

"Alright, great. The rest of you, stick to the usual. No using explosives unless I say otherwise during the fight." They all nodded and picked up their plates off the table, bringing them to the sink. Micheal called out from the kitchen.

"Hey Cass, Gav and I are going to Ammu-Nation today to get some supplies, you wanna come with?"

Gavin looked over at Ryan and winked. This was a bad idea, he thought. 

Such a bad idea. 

"Yeah, awesome. Give me like an hour to get ready." She bounded up the stairs, headed to her room. Gavin walked over to Ryan and elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

"You're going to embarrass all of us. Please don't do this."

"Too late."

\-- --

They pulled up to Ammu-Nation, screeching to a halt. The three scrambled out of the car, laughing at themselves. It wasn't too busy for the early morning, which was a good thing. Nobody liked to go in a crowded store with a bunch of weapons. What wasn't as good, though, was the fact that they were right next to a mexican restaurant that Cass knew for a fact had some pretty amazing nachos. She tried to ignore it, and they entered the gun shop together. 

She'd been in this store several times before, though she tended to frequent another store on the other side of town. This one was slightly smaller and held slightly lower firepower items. They wandered around for a moment, but all she could think of were those nachos. Micheal stared at the far wall that held pistols and several other types of guns. Before long, he turned around and looked at his two companions. 

"So uhhh, anybody else want some nachos?"

"Oh my god, absolutely," Cass groaned. Gavin agreed, and the two handed Micheal some money and then walked out of the store. Satisfied that she'd soon get some nachos, Cass walked over to a small counter that showcased all kinds of bullets. She was borrowing Ryan's snipe rifle, so she didn't need any bullets for that, but she did need some magazines for her AK. Really, what better time to break that out than this job? 

She picked up a few boxes and looked at them, reading the packaging carefully. She needed to make sure she didn't buy the wrong thing again. At that point she'd just look stupid. She looked back for a moment, seeing Gavin spinning in a circle slowly, eyeing the items on the walls. She turned back around and set the boxes back down. Cass reached for the back of the counter, grabbing a slightly larger box, and then walked over to Gavin, who still seemed to be wandering.

"So..." Gavin started as he traipsed around the store, swinging his arms around. "You uh got your eye on anybody right now?"

She gave him a look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked at the table display nearest to him, fumbling with something as he tried to talk.

"Well, I was just trying to make conversation. But really, do you like anyone?" He turned around to look at her, and Cass narrowed my eyes in response. She walked over to a counter near the corner with knives on it, dragging her hand along the edge. 

"Why do you want to know?"

"Uhh, no reason." 

Cass held up a knife and pointed it in Gavin's direction.

"Watch it, Gav, or I might have to stab you."

"Oh bugger me. Leave it to Michael to abandon me with something that can kill me."

"Gavin, everything in here can kill you. I can just do it the most efficiently."

"Love, that is the most terrifying thing I've ever heard you say." Cass winked at him, putting on a small grin. They both laughed and continued looking around the store. Gavin picked up some hats, remembering how he always managed to forget his whenever they went on jobs. He set them back down. Even if he bought more, he'd just leave them in his room. Maybe he ought to start leaving them in all their cars. Meanwhile, Cass was looking at some knives. She'd been meaning to get some new ones to carry around with her for everyday; you never know when you're going to be in mortal danger. She picked up a dagger with a smooth black handle and held it in her hand for a moment to see if she'd like it. It was decent enough, so Cass held onto it and grabbed a sheath for it to tuck it into her boot.

Better safe than sorry.

Soon, Michael had returned having purchased their food and left it in the car. Cass put the knife and sheath on the counter, in addition to the magazines she needed. Gavin brought up several different types of ammo, as did Michael. They chatted idly with the salesperson as they carried out their transaction and then left the store.

"God, you have no idea how excited I am for these nachos," Cass groaned. Gavin squawked in agreement. As soon as they got into the car, Cass passed around the individual boxes, prompting them all to dig in. Michael drove home with one hand, eating nachos out of the box Cass held for him while her own was in her lap.

"I've got an idea." She rolled down the window and stuck her head out. "WOOO!" Cass stuck her arm in the air as she screamed, sending Gavin in the backseat into a fit of giggles. In turn, he did the same, leaving the two of them leaning outside the car, feeling the wind between their fingers and through their hair. Michael took the scenic route home, and anyone who saw them was faced with the idyllic image of the three of them driving next to the ocean, two half out of the window, yelling and waving around. If you were to see them, you'd think them to be teenagers having the time of their lives, driving around in the afternoon sun. And truth be told, that was nearly what was going on. They were in their twenties but had the mindset of teens, enjoying the day and eating nachos. They were enjoying what the day had to offer, knowing deep down that tomorrow could be their last. That was a common thing in their line of work, and it led to a lot more of living in the moment that in other cases. They did the wildest, craziest, most dangerous things because they knew one day they might not have the chance to do it anymore.

Cass had mostly played it safe her whole career, trying to lay low. This was finally her chance to let loose a bit, and she was definitely running with it. For the other two though, this was routine. They lived ridiculous lives and did what they wanted to do, and they were more than willing to show Cass how to do that too.

After all, what are friends for if not getting you into perilous, immoral and very illegal situations?

\-- --

Some peace and quiet, finally. Well, peace and quiet if you could count Jeremy screaming from downstairs every once and a while quiet. He was playing something and every few minutes Ryan could hear a "God Dammit" travel up the stairs. Still, they were down three and not having Micheal and Gavin meant it was far quieter than usual.

Before they'd left, they'd promised to do some sleuthing on Cass and Ryan silently wished they would not do that at all. The two weren't what you'd call...subtle, and Ryan didn't want her figuring out so soon after he'd processed it himself. In the meantime, he decided to brainstorm future heists. It was getting difficult to continue to accomplish things here, and they were running out of things they hadn't done yet, but there was no better city in the country for the work they did like Los Santos. 

They still had more banks they could break into, but they'd just done that and the crew preferred some variety. They couldn't do the military base because they'd be ramping up security for a while. The air base was always an option, but they had a helicopter and nothing to do with it, and there was no point in aquiring another aircraft when they had no reason to. Those things were hard enough to store as is. There was any number of stores and businesses they could rob, and it had been a while since they've attempted to do something that small, but again, how interesting is that really? Ryan thought about it for a very long time. It was up to him, as a leader, to make sure they had income and that the boys stayed happy with the assignments. 

It wasn't like they'd just up and leave if they took a job they didn't like, but them being satisfied lead to better success and less fighting. It was difficult to continue to come up with new ideas after years of working together, but this city was huge and always coming up with new ideas, surely there was something he hadn't thought of.

And that's when he got an idea. There had been whispers lately, of some new software being developed by a tech company with a government contract. It could do all kinds of things, but it's primary purpose? Hacking.

The group as a whole was not strong with hacking. Gavin and Jeremy both had experience, but Gavin's a bit of a spaz and Jeremy, well, he didn't have that much practice with it. But getting a hold of this software that was supposedly out there could make it so much easier. They wouldn't have to do as much work, which means they could take on jobs at places with greater security and do anything that requires that level of hacking.

The only problem was getting in.

But that was something to be worried with another day, because they still had another job to finish first.

Ryan pulled out a map, studying their entrance strategy once more. It was a bit of a risky plan but that's certainly not out of the ordinary for them. It required a lot of individual skill from everyone involved. But he was confident that the five of them could pull it off. They had shown on several occasions, especially Cass, that they were more than capable of doing things alone. But in addition to that they needed to be able to support the team's goal with their individual abilities. He set the map down. There was no need to worry about any of them, they were all more than able to accomplish this, and Ryan needed to have faith in them all. 

There was another yell from Jeremy downstairs, followed by a slam of hands on a table. Moments later, he heard a door slam and footsteps on stairs. His silence was over. Not that he minded, Jeremy was his friend, and he certainly didn't mind him being around while he was working.

He came up the stairs, and Jeremy saw Ryan pouring over his notes on the couch. This was a usual sight, as Ryan spent a lot of time going over plans. He was a meticulous person who rarely left out any details and that meant going over plans a lot. They all knew how much effort that took and appreciated it greatly. There was nothing worse than going on a mission and encountering a problem nobody had thought about, and he was keen to see to it that it didn't happen. There was a fine line between fun and danger, and Ryan singlehandedly made sure that they never crossed that line again, and they were all the better for it.

Jeremy sat on the couch, opening up a bottle of whiskey he grabbed from the counter as he did. Ryan nodded in his direction to acknowledge that he was there, then went back to looking at the notebook in front of him. Jeremy waited a moment before he spoke.

"How's it going?" Ryan blinked and leaned back, sighing.

"Pretty good, I've been over it several times and I think I've explored all possible options," He said, looking over at the man sitting across from him on the couch. He was nodding, listening closely as he knew all to well the depth of information Ryan was about to enter. "We've got the usual- deaths, arrests, failure, etc. We all know what to do for those, though I will have to discuss it with Cass."

Jeremy grinned.

"Speaking of Cass..." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Don't start."

"Come on! This is the most interesting thing to happen around here in a while."

"Interesting? More like awful. I couldn't think of a worse scenario." Jeremy gave him a pointed look, knowing damn well he could. He was the king of bad scenarios.

"You know that's not true. Sure, you should probably wait a bit before you talk to her about it because she just got here, but there's nothing wrong with that."

"I don't know, it doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Do you like her?" Ryan seemed stunned for a moment. Of course he did, that was why they were having this conversation.

"Yeah."

"Then it's not a bad idea. Being honest with yourself and other people is never a bad idea. Even if things don't work out, you did the right thing and you can't fault yourself for that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But she's new and I still need to wait a while and not just throw this at her."

"Good idea." They resumed their silence and looked at each other for a moment. Jeremy felt a bit relieved. That conversation could've got a lot worse for sure. Ryan didn't often confide in others with his personal feelings, and he had long wondered if that was due to the fearless leader image or just because he actually didn't have any, because either was likely. It felt nice knowing that his friend was not an actual complete psychopath like he pretended to be.

Ryan was also vaguely thankful, though mostly embarrassed. Feelings wasn't really his area of expertise, and talking about made him feel strange, but he felt slightly better now for reasons he couldn't quite understand. He was just beginning to get back to his notes when he heard laughter down the hall.

And that's the end of his peaceful morning.

Cass, Gavin, and Michael burst through the door, leaning on each other and laughing. They carried their containers of half eaten nachos, nearly dropping them as they leaned over to catch their breath.

"Hey guys!" Cass was the first to shatter the quiet inside and speak. She smiled widely, and Ryan could feel himself starting to blush a little. She had such a beautiful, genuine smile that you couldn't help but smile back at her. She stopped in her tracks, brushing her hair out of her face and staring at Ryan, smiling softly. He smiled back, and she turned a little bit pink, not that Ryan noticed. She spun around quickly, facing Gavin and Michael, who since have been able to collect themselves. They all walked over and set the boxes on the counter.

"Hey, how's about we all get dinner and bevs tonight, yeah?" Gavin said, swinging his legs as he sat on a stool.

"Sounds good to me," Jeremy said, and the rest of them echoed that sentiment.

"Whoo! Let's go get drunk!" Cass yelled, jumping off the stool she was perched on and throwing her hands in the air.

Ryan walked up and put his hand on her upper back, pushing her forward slightly.

"Yeah, we are so not doing that."

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This work is also available on Wattpad under the same name, posted by me. That version was posted first before I thought of posting it here, so worry not, I didn't steal someone else's work to post here, just in case anyone ever happened to come upon that coincidence. But hey, thanks for reading!


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